William Turnbull

Biography

Scottish painter and sculptor William Turnbull was working as a labourer in Dundee when he first took up art via evening classes. This led him, first to illustration at DC Thompson, publisher of the Beano, then to the Slade School of Art in London. Disillusioned by the school’s approach, he left without completing the course, began exploring sculpture (a stint in Paris introduced him to Giacometti), and went on to develop a remarkable body of abstract work that helped define postwar sculpture in Britain.